Mistrial in Gotti racketeering case

By Associated Press
Published September 21, 2005

NEW YORK - The judge in the John A. "Junior" Gotti racketeering case declared a mistrial on the most serious charges Tuesday and said she would likely grant bail to the jailed scion of the Gambino crime family.

After eight days of deliberations, jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked on all but one count. They acquitted Gotti, 41, of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. That verdict will stand if there is a retrial.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin declared a mistrial on the remaining counts, which included an allegation that Gotti plotted the kidnapping of Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels crime-fighting group.

Prosecutors said they would seek to retry Gotti, the son of the late mob boss John Gotti.

Defense attorneys asked that Gotti be released on bail. Scheindlin said she was likely to grant the request.

Gotti smiled in the courtroom after it was announced the trial had ended. He hugged one of his co-defendants and his lawyers.

The jury did not reach a decision in one of the most serious racketeering allegations against Gotti, an allegation that he ordered his Gambino crew to give Sliwa, a WABC radio host, a severe beating in retaliation for his on-air rants against his father.

Gotti faced as many as 30 years in prison if convicted of multiple racketeering charges. His father was sentenced to life in prison in 1992 and died there 10 years later.